Return to True Self

Thousand-Year Tree Heart.

Zhou Yi had assumed it would be like a demon core.

Yan Chixia split the tree demon's main trunk, and a mass of dark green liquid floated in midair, weightless.

Thick wood-type spiritual energy continuously dissipated into the air.

"A Thousand-Year Tree Heart is akin to a tree demon's blood. In another few hundred or thousand years, it could transform into a Wood Spirit, shed its physical shackles, and roam the world freely."

Yan Chixia swung his sword, cleaving the Thousand-Year Tree Heart in two. "Refine it quickly. Once the tree demon dies, the spiritual energy within the heart will gradually fade."

Zhou Yi opened his mouth and swallowed it whole, letting it fall straight into his belly.

The surging wood spiritual energy nourished his organs, tempered his muscles and bones.

In mere moments, the true essence in his Dantian rose by a notch, the original earthy yellow tinged with a hint of emerald green.

[Wood Spirit Root (Tier 1) acquired]

"So even Spirit Roots can be obtained after birth. Truly, nothing in this world is absolute—the Heavenly Dao always leaves a sliver of hope."

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. The Thousand-Year Tree Heart was fully refined.

Zhou Yi's spiritual energy had doubled, and when meditating, he could absorb both earth and wood spiritual energy simultaneously, greatly speeding up his cultivation.

Seven days earlier, Yan Chixia had already bid Zhou Yi farewell, heading straight for Xiangfu to capture the Corpse Demon.

Before leaving, Zhou Yi asked Yan Chixia to look after Chen Jinyu if the opportunity arose.

"Senior Brother, I plan to enter a death-seclusion retreat. I don't know when I'll break out. If anything happens to the brewery, I hope you can lend a hand."

Yan Chixia agreed readily, even praising Zhou Yi's diligence and telling him not to worry.

"I can't bear to part with the Immortal's Brew. Don't worry about your sister-in-law's affairs. In this world, aside from a few old fogies from the Buddha Dao, no one else is worth a second glance!"

With that, he raised his head, sang to the sky, and strode away.

"Immortals are fine, immortals are fine, but immortals can't match my carefree life..."

"Guzzling wine and singing, sleeping the day away—who's the real immortal, only I know..."

Zhou Yi watched with envy as Yan Chixia's silhouette vanished into the horizon.

The tree demon was dead; all matters were settled.

Zhou Yi used Sword Qi to carve a stone cave into Black Mountain, positioned precisely beneath the stone mound formed by the Ghost King Arm.

With a thunderous crash!

The cave entrance shattered, and boulders sealed it shut.

"Return to the True Self!"

Consumed 1000 Origin, returning to the True Self!

The dusk was heavy.

It was early evening.

Zhou Yi's eyes snapped open.

The familiar white ceiling, the lamp.

"I'm back..."

Zhou Yi shook his head. Over three years had made everything that should have been familiar feel foreign.

He sat up and first looked at the electronic clock on the wall.

March 15th, 19:04.

"The 15th? Only three days and one daytime have passed!"

Zhou Yi's face showed disbelief. One year in the Other Self world equaled one day in the True Self world.

Three and a half years had passed in just three days and one day.

Zhou Yi clenched his fist. There was no sense of power at all—he was still an ordinary person.

"Can't the Gateway to Myriad Wonders even sync the Other Self's power over..."

Zhou Yi had a thought and opened his status panel.

Name: Zhou Yi (True Self)

Race: Human

Cultivation: None

Lifespan: 27/89

Origin: 3 (+1 point/day)

Talent: Great Luo;

Aptitude: None

Technique: Chaos Origin Art (Perfected); Golden Toad Art (Perfected); Python-Ape Body Forging (Perfected)

Spell: Sword Control Art (Perfected); Purple Yang Sword Qi Sutra (Perfected); Martial Canon (Perfected);

Divine Ability: None

Equipment: None

"Cultivation technique experience didn't vanish. Looks like the Gateway to Myriad Wonders can only sync memories, not directly sync Other Selves across the myriad worlds. Makes sense—across infinite realms, maybe one Other Self is an immortal or demon. That'd let me leap to the top in one step."

Zhou Yi didn't feel disheartened. With so many perfected techniques in hand, he'd already saved a massive chunk of Origin.

Besides, having broken through to the innate realm once before, starting over was more than ten times faster.

He turned on the TV. It was the news hour.

Peace and harmony at home, chaos abroad—not a single story about the Spiritual Energy Revival.

He stared at the anchor.

A moment of daze.

Zhou Yi shook his head, shaking off the strange sense of disconnection, and pulled out his phone.

A few missed calls from his company boss. He replied with a single line—"I quit"—then blocked the number.

A couple of messages from his mom on WeChat. He answered casually, then searched for info on beast attacks, ghosts, and the like.

Jincheng's deadly beast attacks—no leaks at all.

He found scattered netizen replies: their cats and dogs were getting smarter.

Post dates ranged from two years ago, last year, to this year.

It wasn't just pets changing. Some scholars claimed Earth's environment was improving, forest coverage surging, all credited to growing global environmental awareness.

Back when he saw news like this, Zhou Yi would reflexively comment, "Expert my ass."

Now he realized Blue Star's changes had been brewing for a while—signs had already appeared.

"At one Origin point per day, and the spiritual energy speed... at least three years!"

Suddenly, an urgent news alert popped up.

"Jincheng will offer free health checkups to all citizens before May!"

Zhou Yi's heart stirred. He tapped to read the details.

Over a dozen designated hospitals in Jincheng would provide free checkups starting tomorrow through the end of May.

The scope covered not just Jincheng residents, but migrant workers too.

The article noted that Jincheng was the second wave of cities to offer universal free checkups, following Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

"Checkups..."

Zhou Yi's gaze sharpened. He stood by the window, looking out at the glittering city lights.

"When Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy revives, it hits famous mountains and great rivers first, then wild hills and fields, and cities last. It's been three years since the revival. Out in the wilds, there must be plenty of beasts like that Wolf Demon—maybe even the Demon Race has been born."

"And the way they handled that Wolf Demon so smoothly, they've almost certainly got famous mountains under surveillance."

"I need to claim one of those mountains. But not now."

"Before I recover my cultivation, I'll find a small hill to train on."

Zhou Yi muttered to himself: "The Gateway to Myriad Wonders is the foundation. The True Self must tread with utmost caution."

"Hold a cautious heart; walk a cautious path."

Bold and reckless—that's only for Other Selves.

The next morning.

Zhou Yi boarded a long-distance bus back to his hometown.

Three years without seeing his parents—how could he not miss them?

Qi County.

Tucked away at the edge of Southwest Province, that was Zhou Yi's hometown.

Both his parents worked at a scenic spot. Southwest Province was full of mountains and rivers—any decent spot could be turned into a picturesque retreat.

Half a day's bus ride.

Then Zhou Yi hailed a taxi, heading straight for Peach Blossom Mountain.

Qi County's viral tourist attraction. The mountain was covered in peach trees, and it was the season when the blossoms were in full bloom.

Long ago, farmers had planted peach trees there. When the county pushed tourism, they cut down every other tree and filled the slopes with peaches.

Cultural bureau workers dug through old archives, scraping up clues to prove that some historical figure had once visited and left behind a "famous" poem.

The scenic area managers knew their marketing. They hyped up a Tang Family Scholar who supposedly came by and wrote the legendary "Peach Blossom Poem," even sparking a spat with scenic area officials from Jiangsu Province.

The more the two provinces argued, the hotter this obscure hill became. Eventually, it was forcibly developed into a "historically renowned tourist destination."

It wasn't nameless anymore. At the foot of the mountain stood a twelve-foot stone stele, inscribed by a calligraphy master from the provincial government.

Peach Blossom Mountain.